The Havana vs. Little Havana War!!
While concerned Americans might think that their Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should be concentrating on pressing problems involving Iran, Russia, China, etc., it seems regaining control of little Cuba is actually his priority. This past weekend Pompeo, as shown above, made Latin American stops in Ecuador and Mexico with Cuba uppermost on his mind. Dating back to January, the Trump administration has envisioned regime-change in troubled Venezuela as the prelude to the long-sought {since January 1, 1959} regime-change in Cuba. The big-boy power of Russia and China has stalled the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela to install the U.S.-backed Juan Guaido but Pompeo insists the all-out Venezuelan effort led by Superpower USA is being blunted by the EXTREME POWER of...poor little Cuba. The Pompeo comments at the above forum included this amazing sequence: "I don't want to rule out the possibility that someone could find a clear way to do that {replace Maduro with Guaido} but it seems that to the extent that you have the Cubans protecting Maduro..." WOW!! Assuming Americans as well as his weekend audiences in Ecuador and Mexico are idiots, Pompeo -- to support his Cuban agenda -- projects tiny little Cuba as more powerful than the other main players in the Venezuelan scenario -- the U. S., China, Russia, Brazil, etc. INCREDIBLE!!
The above montage shows Secretary of State Pompeo in the middle flanked by the OTHER FOUR most extremists anti-Cuban zealots that President Trump has assembled to bring about the regime-change in Cuba, an event that Trump obviously believes will gain him Florida's 29 crucial electoral votes necessary for his 2020 re-election.
Meanwhile, as the USA's Secretary of State Pompeo coddles dangerous dictators who might have a capacity to fight back but makes sure to devote an inordinate amount of time and energy to picking on poor little Cuba.
Insulting Latin America and displaying little knowledge of Latin American history, to facilitate the regime-change in Venezuela Pompeo incredibly named Elliott Abrams America's Envoy to Venezuela. Every Latin American nation views Abrams as the elderly Poster Boy from the USA's wicked right-wing imperialist designs on Latin America, an association that ties Abrams to such things as the Mozote Massacre, which will forever be a part of Latin America's darkest history. While pardoned by the Bush dynasty, Abrams' startling revival to handle Latin America's most delicate issue in 2019...Venezuela...is the type of thing that imperialist-minded USA right-wingers should be held accountable for. Just assuming Americans don't know about the Mozote Massacre and won't bother to Google it...doesn't excuse the Trump revival of Bush extremists such as Abrams.
President Trump's two prime foreign policy advisers -- National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- apparently earned those positions because of their past histories of eagerly championing a regime-change in Cuba to appease the Counter Revolutionary stalwarts in Miami, supposedly the Little Havana denizens who can deliver Trump his hotly desired 29 electoral votes in Florida. That Cuban grip on the Trump White House appears to be shaping the Trump administration more than any other issue...foreign or domestic. Of course, anything related to Cuba is easily disguised behind the facade of a well-greased blanket of deceit that has distorted the Cuban narrative in the USA since the 1950s.
In Venezuela, presidential aspirant Juan Guaido's support from Bolton and Abrams figured to complete the process months ago resulting in a U.S.-friendly leader of that oil-rich but now-destitute Latin American nation. But Bolton and Abrams have reputations that scare Latin Americans even as opposition leaders in Latin America, such as Guaido, now seem to call Miami first and Washington second if regime-changes are desired.
Back in 2000-2002 John Bolton famously failed to persuade Little Havana-aligned President George W. Bush to attack Cuba even though Bolton presented Bush with what he believed was a worthy pretext. Today Bolton apparently believes that President Trump needs Little Havana's backing even more than Bush needed it to win the presidency in 2000 against Al Gore, who led in nationwide popular votes but watched with the rest of the world as Florida handed Bush the presidency. Of course, Bolton in 2019 also believes...correctly...that Cuban soldiers are far too few and far too ill-equipped to withstand even a minimal Superpower attack...an attack that Bolton seems convinced the American people are groomed to accept, regardless of its brutality or outcome.
All Republican presidents since the 1950s have treated Cuba like a Piggy Bank that deserved a U.S.-friendly dictator, not a Democracy that might be expected to use the island's resources to help its own people. So, Dinosaurs like John Bolton from the George W. Bush presidency resurfacing in the Trump presidency was and is not surprising.
Therefore, in July of 2019 that brings us back around to the image of Trump's anti-Cuban Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling Latin American leaders this past weekend that Poor Little Cuba is responsible for Latin America's ills, including the prevention of what was perceived as an easy regime-change in Venezuela. Iran...Russia...China...North Korea...Saudi Arabia...Turkey...NO, NO!! We can talk and negotiate with any nation except Cuba. Cuba is too mean to talk to and Obama was crazy to do that. WE MUST RECAPTURE CUBA TO...uh, you know...RETURN DEMOCRACY TO THAT NEARBY ISLAND. And so, the beat goes on -- from Fulgencio Batista, Lucky Luciano, and Meyer Lansky in 1952 to Marco Rubio, John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo in 2019.
U.S.-friendly Cuba in the 1950s.
USA's "Powerful" enemy in July, 2019.